Productivity and personal development

Productivity and personal development. Previously, productivity was measured by the number of hours worked and the goals achieved during that time. However, now we know that the productivity of a person has to do directly with the satisfaction of the work made. 

For productivity at work, all starts with the internal organization. The company must have in-depth knowledge of its employees’ work. Also, the time or difficulty of the tasks, and the tools needed to fulfill them. This way, the organization will be able to identify key points of the process to improve them through training and courses.

No matter how much you develop the skills to improve any aspect of your life, it will always be possible to improve even more. Because of this, it’s not really possible to achieve perfection. Self-improvement is a never-ending task.

People think that things like being fit and being productive mean instant happiness. But being physically fit today does not mean being physically fit six months from now. Having your life under control today does not mean that you can ignore future problems.

If it’s impossible to achieve perfection, what can you do? Simply use all the resources at your disposal to create and consolidate good habits. Also, learn a little from here and a little from there, and enjoy the journey without worrying too much about the destination.

Want to boost your personal productivity?

Organize yourself efficiently. Without stress. For example:

• Do urgent tasks first: The better you handle the traffic of tasks and the people in charge of them, the easier it will be to meet objectives in less time.
•  Clear communication: Having effective communication between departments and employees will make the development of projects easier.
•  Reactivity: Every day there will be setbacks and moments of crisis. So, you need to react on time so as not to interfere with the stability of the company. 
• Equipment in good condition: Equipment is as important as talent. Providing the employee with good tools is important to ensure good performance.
• Flexible hours: Giving the employee the ability to adjust their schedule can increase responsibility and productivity. Besides, the employee will choose the best hours to work within a reasonable delivery time.
• Incentives: Recognition of the work done is important to motivate the team. Also, a motivated worker is much more productive than one who feels obliged to perform their duties.

Get interested in psychology.

Psychology helps us analyze our thoughts and actions, and helps us understand our motivations. To progress, you need to see yourself objectively. Read about psychology. Many books on personal development come from psychological studies, and there’s a reason for that. 

Create good habits

Our ability to improve comes from our habits. Our habits influence our response to any situation and define how efficient we can be. You have a lot of room for improvement here. 

Maybe some of your habits are not entirely healthy, productive, or simply recommended. Work on your habits and your willpower. Analyze your current habits. Then, create new habits that help you to be better, and change those that are not so good.

Use formal methods

Using formal methods can help you make progress in certain aspects, because of the aforementioned reasons. Formal methods work because they are based on good psychology. Besides, formal methods help form good habits.

You can go to the gym and train randomly. But, you will make more progress if you follow a formal training program. It’s the same for dieting, health, or productivity. If you have a structured system for dealing with your daily activities, you will have more control, peace of mind, and capacity for improvement.

In the area of personal productivity, many methods and techniques can help you. Help yourself by following a good method.

Add some technology

Nowadays, technology can help you with just about everything. Some wristbands monitor your activity to improve your physical performance and even the quality of your sleep. You can use web-based personal management tools to help improve your habits. You can use online courses to learn things that were not so easily available to you before.

Be careful, because technology can help your personal development as long as you use it wisely. Misused, it can harm you. In fact, it can be a distracting tool that takes you away from your goals.

Is your personal productivity failing?

Many symptoms can show that we are not being productive. Do you identify with any of them?

• Having never-ending to-do lists.
•  Finishing your day without doing even half of what you planned.
•  Missing your deadlines and meetings. You are always late.

Focusing too much time on a single part of your life. For example, you are efficient at finishing tasks at work, but you can’t follow an exercise plan.

You have a high personal dissatisfaction as you feel that your days go by without doing anything important.

Lack of personal productivity and its causes. Why are you unproductive?

There are many causes. Let’s list some of them:

• Procrastination. You avoid the really important tasks and always leave them for later.
•  Perfectionism. You don’t finish something until you make it perfect, so you spend too much time on a specific task, abandoning the others.
•  Interruptions. Maybe you are leading a large team, or you work at home, and you have too many interruptions that take time and concentration.
•  Distractions. Sometimes, we don’t focus, and we get distracted by anything. For instance: a phone call, emails in our inbox, etc.

Too many tasks. Maybe the cause is that you have too many tasks, and you don’t know how to delegate someone else to help you.

How to increase your personal productivity?

Here are some simple tips, but keep in mind that this is only a small outline. Personal productivity is a skill that you must work on every day. However, improving your productivity is something in which you advance little by little incorporating small habits steadily. 

With this in mind, here are some tips to help you improve your productivity:

Apply the two-minute rule

Throughout the day we have many pending tasks to do. Then, others come up, and we often find it difficult to decide which tasks we must complete to achieve greater productivity. To decide which of these tasks should be done first, it’s best to apply the two-minute rule.

The amount of things we can do in just two minutes is amazing. However, we often underestimate the value of that time and put off all those small tasks. So, at the end of the day, we find ourselves with dozens of things to do. The two-minute rule is very simple: just ask yourself if the task can be done in two minutes or less. 

This will increase your productivity while preserving your energy. If the task is simple, it’s best to do it immediately, so you can eliminate it from your to-do list. There is nothing more stressful than the constant reminder of to-dos.

However, if the task is a bit more complicated and requires more than two minutes, it’s best to postpone it until you have time. The reason is that it could negatively influence your productivity. When you immerse in a task, if you abandon it to resume it later, you will have to make an extra effort to focus again. Likely, you have completely lost the thread of what you were doing. Moreover, if it is a task that demands a certain degree of creativity, an interruption could be fatal to the creative flow.

Make a parallel to-do list with unplanned tasks

Productivity correlates to organization. If you get in the habit of making a list of the tasks you need to do each day, you’ll find it easier to keep your projects under control. Then, make sure they’re moving at the right place.

When unexpected tasks come up that you can’t do immediately, instead of leaving them hanging around in your mind, write them down in a list. This is a very simple strategy, but it has three main advantages. First, it will give you the impression that you have everything under control. Also, you will avoid that uncomfortable feeling of overwhelm and stress caused by constantly remembering that you have something pending. Secondly, it will allow you to clearly define which tasks are important and which are secondary.

Thirdly, making a parallel list of unplanned tasks will give you a clearer picture of what they really entail. In fact, we often make the mistake of thinking that because they are simple tasks, they are not a problem. However, when you see them on paper, you will realize that the sum of all these tasks can take a great deal of time.

Choose the right time for each task

People are usually most productive in the mornings, and as the day progresses, they start to feel exhausted and find it more difficult to focus. However, the productivity curve depends a lot on the type of work you do and your habits. Therefore, you should find out what are the hours of the day when you can give your most. Additionally, concentrate on the really important tasks, those that let you move towards your goals.

Unplanned tasks do not demand too much concentration, so you can do them at any time of day. The smartest thing to do is to perform them in those hours when you are less productive. By doing this, you will be freeing up your day for the really important tasks. Those that demand a greater dose of concentration and creativity.